A joint statement issued through the club (from Leon Best and Stephen Ireland): “Although we had been ruled out of the game at Stoke, we realise that going out to a bar was inappropriate, and we fully regret doing so.
“We were asked to have our photograph taken and removed our shirts as a tongue-in-cheek joke, but the resulting coverage suggests a far different night out.
“Whilst our actions were wrong, neither of us had consumed alcohol and we were out for only a very short period of time.
“However, with the team having an important game the following day, we should never have put ourselves or the club in that position.”